This is an application to patent a new way of dispensing rubber bands from a hand-held stock allowing the user to dispense multiple rubber bands quickly. It has a hand-held stock, and quick changeable cylinders, each holding six to ten or more slats depending on desire. Thus, it could be called a rubber band gun that can be quickly reloaded.
There is nothing (to my knowledge) on the market or patented like this design. Each gun would have one or more cylinders that can be preloaded (rubber bands stretched over slats) and can be quickly fitted to a hand-held stock.
Six models have been built and have been operating--from a 3-inch cylinder to a 10-inch cylinder--each dispensing a different size rubber band. The cylinder can be exposed on top of the stock as the draqwing shows, or enclosed inside a stock and shot through a hollow tube, as a rifle or large pistol configuration. All prototype models are built from hardwoods--but the design could easily be carried over to millable or castable plastics or space-age nylons and sold very cheaply. I have used rubber bands that have little chance of causing injury to users, especially children. For example, a 6-inch barrel with #30 rubber bands--this size can easily spin light free-spinning targets with an accuracy of about 15 feet. A gun can be made to shoot any size rubber band, and a variety of rubber band sizes can be loaded on the same cylinder.
The invention relates in principal to toy guns with rotating cylinders with the capability of firing multiple shots fast and accurately with the pull of a trigger mechanism. A number and variety of rubber band repeating guns for rapidly discharging rubber bands have been proposed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,757,760, 3,693,609, and 4,800,864 are generally indicative of the state-of-the-art.
All of these proposals mentioned above have the ability to discharge rubber bands in a repeating fashion. They all use a rotating barrel to accomplish both the release of a rubber band and rotation of the barrel to the next firing position, by means of a cam, or a rod, or trip levers to push the rubber band off stationary or pivotal catches. Each pull of the trigger mechanism rotates the cylinder, releasing a rubber band, and the release of the trigger advances the barrel to the next firing position.
The first two patents mentioned above (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,757,760 and 3,693,609) distort the alignment of the rubber band and impair the shooting accuracy. The last mentioned patent (U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,864) firmly stops the barrel against an acuator stop as it is fired, by a series of pivot hooks disposed on the rear end of a stretched rubber band, the forward end of which is retained by a correcponding hook disposed on the front of the cylinder. All of the above are much more complicated to manufacture than necessary to accomplish precise barrel alignment and cylinder rotation. It is also much more complicated to manufacture than necessary and difficult to hand build in a manner commensurate with fine craftmanship, attractive to adults as well as to children. All other prior art makes it difficult to produce an attractive, aesthetically pleasing toy.